Apparatus for the powered adjustment or position setting of automotive seats are extremely well-known in the art. The power in many cases is supplied either by separate reversible motors, one for each movement or by clutch mechanisms driven by a single reversible motor. More recently, a single, reversible motor with plural individually selectable armatures has been used to provide the power. The apparatus of the present invention may be powered by any of the cited drive motor arrangements. For any such apparatus, external suitably located control switches or the like selectably control the operation of the motor or motors (and clutch, if provided) produce forward or reverse horizontal movement of the seat, and independent raising or lowering of the front and rear ends of the seat.
To provide the drive from the motor or motors to the output mechanisms, various types of mechanical mechanisms and linkages have been used. Most recently, these mechanisms have used drive cable members operated by the respective motors to rotate gear trains. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,303 to J. Pickles dated 4/8/69, a rack and pinion mechanism is driven by flexible cable members to produce the horizontal movement. Worm and threaded shaft engagement are frequently used to produce both vertical movements from the respective drive members. Other patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,961,032 issued 11/22/60 to Ferro Mfg. disclose similar structures.